Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #45 - 12/13/13 at 02:32:32

Marky, I think I will need to think on this a bit as far as room treatments are concerned as mentioned before the walls that are available are packed. That is why I was thinking of tall large silk trees or something. My speaker placement is probably the biggest problem that I am not able to change. I have my Ls70's stacked on top of my Pioneer HPM 100's my right channel is in between my stereo rack and my dining room hutch without much clearance. The left channel is same configuration with the difference of it being fairly open around the stack. I do have to trim the CSP3 to correct for the volume differences caused by the clearances between the two speakers. I wouldn't of thought it would effect the sound as much as it does but it is noticeable mainly since getting this tube set up and the ability to micro adjust the channels. There are some parameters that I am unable to make changes to in my living room and maintain our furniture. I've looked at moving it into the family room but would have similar problems doing that also so no perfect solution at this point. We don't use our family room much through the winter since we don't bother heating it do to our limited time. The house is a multilevel layout so we mostly live in the upstairs area with the woodburner through the winter. I know with some of the other things I can keep busy tweaking it will give me some time to see what I can do creatively with out disrupting the room to much. I do believe it could use some ceiling treatment but I may have to apply for a permit from my wife to get into that one Ha Ha! It would be less of a sales job on her to purchase the Mystery amp than mess with her ceilings. I was thinking of telling her lets pretend it is the 60's and 70's and hang some tie dyed sheets from the ceiling as some new decor.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #47 - 12/13/13 at 22:38:51

Tom, Are you sure it is the last amp you would ever want? Oh boy that would be a risky statement for me to make. I have found sometimes it takes numerous amps to do it in life Guitars,Telescopes you name it just never could find one that could do it all. I sure wish I could find one to do it all. I'm hoping to pick up the Mystery Amp in the not to distant future that maybe it. Would be nice to hear one first though. Thanks for your input and thoughts I'll check out your amps online. I see Decware was listed last are you meaning the Decware will be your last? I looked up some of the previously listed amps looks like you had some nice ones.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #48 - 12/18/13 at 13:00:15

Work is so overrated, spending time on forums and reading reviews so much more interesting at the moment. Why? Well i been doing a total change/do over of our livingroom and the need for a new setup is the latest addition to it. I just ordered a miniTor11 and by reading post on this forums took a call to Omega, couldent say no to a good deal with Louis. Now I have an amp and speakers (7"alnico driver in a 32 l floorstanding cabinet) arriving in february I guess. So at this moment im reading up on DACs and cables. I have descent signal cables and Im going to keep those. But speaker cables is next. Source; well I have a modest collection of CDs no LPs (some audiophiles may consider this blasfemic..), but I have a large digital collection in a NAS solution and also here in Norway a Spotify alternative (WIMP) that offers lossless transfer. Im really unsure what sollution to choose, but I have some weeks to make up my mind. Im into getting a good combo of sound and apperance. Decluttering is the new black. And I need it to be an easy operational set-up, wife must be able as well. And im really sure the amp and speakers will satisfy my needs musicqualitywise. (not a word??) Im all new to this world and all of the hidden knowledge, and I do not consider myself a audiophile, just a overaverage interested guy who wants good listening expirences, with pieces that suits the interior and style we have at home. Of course, needless to say, good tips for streaming sollutions, DAC and speakercables in much appriciated.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #49 - 12/18/13 at 14:28:06

Jorgen,

I've had good luck using decware silver interconnects. xhadow connections are expensive but I find them worth it. Waiting on some grover Huffman cables (small company in CA) to compare them with. The Zen Styx are a great speaker cable that takes a looooong time to break in. I also wouldn't call myself an audiophile (friends would argue this) but really love music. Many helpful members on here that will help you navigate.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #50 - 12/18/13 at 22:29:19

Dig: I was doing a riff on Steve's old ad slogan "the last amp you will ever want." At this point, I am trying different tubes with this amp and have a deja vu experience. The big Cary that I had was endowed with a switch to change from triode to ultra-linear. Triode was sweet, layered and beautiful, but a little rounded off and 60 watts per channel. Ultra was faster, more dynamic and more exciting and 120 watts. This is what the Torii 3 is like when you go from Mullard EL34 tubes to Gold Lion KT 66s. Like having 2 amps. Although the 66s don't double the power obviously, but all the grip and authority is there. I have added a small Gallo sub to enhance the bottom end a little bit, so things seem pretty good. Thinking about upgrading the rectifier tubes though. With 94 db efficient speakers, a more powerful amp is not needed.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #51 - 12/18/13 at 23:18:32

Tom, I'm glad to hear you like your Torri. I thought real hard on that one but was afraid it would run out of steam with my 90 db speakers. I run an amp fairly hard in the summer time when we are outside on the deck and wasn't sure 25 watts would get me there. I will say in the winter it would be all I would need. Funny how as I've grown older those 100 watt amps do not have the appeal that they use to have for me. Now it is more about quality and not so much about quantity. I'm sure I don't have the quality with the Jolida that I would have with the Torri but the CSP3 up front gives me some of that Decware sound it is quite nice with a bit more horsepower. I'm currently running the 6550's and would like to try the KT88's just to see what the difference would be. One thing I'll say I don't have any shortage of bass with this setup and I credit it to the CSP3 it really pumps some base. It may also help I have a 12" woofer in my lower speaker cabinet. Running Pioneer HPM 100's on the bottom and a heavily modified set of Polk LS 70's on the top both sets are 90 db. This sure is fun. I'm adding a Schiit BiFrost Uber to the system I returned the stock unit and am waiting on the Uber now.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #52 - 01/13/14 at 07:11:08

I have not changed my MAIN two channel system much lately, except for dinkin' 'round between pre's and sources and sometimes not. Having fun mostly as it has been for a couple of years. Still have open baffle (dual fifteens below single B200s plus a slightly upward firing slot horn tweet JBL - plus my solid MDF deflection towers positioned out back, which I wish there was a way to patent, because these make OB really work nicely) powered by three SB84Cs. Sony Bluray/Dual turntable/Thorens turntable, Crown and Revox R2R sources, Art Pro/McIntosh tube preamps (The McIntosh is new to me, but old school).

I should probably bow out at this point, concerning this thread, but I have mainly focused this year on upgrading my movie rig. I think it is worth bragging about just for a second. Then I'll shut up about it.

Lows also kick ass - dual 10"/quad 15" bi-amped LFE channel, separate 18" single and separate 15" single LFE (strategically placed after much ado) All vintage JBL original materials, driven by A Denon 4311 on mains, Ashley used for digital ULF cut off set at 14Hz, DBx parametric flattening out the eighteens and Crown VFX-2 XOs between the 10s, 18 and the 15s, all Crown PS series power on the subs. (again, all stuff I had sitting around from my sound guy days - just needed to re-think how to put it all together)

I have a TRUE Home Theater rig in my house and it is an amazing thing to behold or "feel," if the urge arises, which it occasionally does, like when we watched "Man Of Steel" a few days ago - HOLY MOLY!!

Honestly, it was just a matter of buying a couple of Compression Driver diaphragms and getting three of the larger drivers reconed with original JBL replacements to make it all come together; most of everything I already owned. I just needed time to do the work constructing custom enclosures to fit the spaces available. Already had the massive LFE rig going, just needed the fronts, center and rears up to spec.

Going back to two channel in another room, My speakers are too large.

I would love to get decent speakers, super efficient that are smaller. These are nice (came to these after much fun and dinkin' 'round as I mentioned) and they put out incredible sound, huge stage, with just about 6 or 7 watts per channel (3-sb84s); no one ever believes I have only 6 or 7 watts per channel.

(then again, putting my MC2500 McIntosh across them will take your breath away - but they are TOO DAMN BIG!)

I have made my living room HUGE with movie theater grade speakers. I need to make the speakers in my "shared" close listening room WAY less invasive, just to preserve WAF, if for no other reason. I feel I already have pushed her a bit. One concession would help. I do have a number of small speakers all in the 92dB/W range, but none as Hi-Res as I would like. Keeping my Sb84s. Need efficient speakers that do not take up half a wall to work.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #53 - 01/14/14 at 04:13:17

Digger, Thanks for your comments. Just got my Zp3 Dec. 26th its beautiful and brings my records to life I am thinking about a decware amp I have 94db effficient speakers and I considered the se84ckc or the se84ckcs if they are powerful enough. Is there a big difference in sound between those? I understand the csp3 makes a big difference with those as well but the mini torii doesn't need a pre It takes awhile to afford the next big step...Wish I could listen to some of these before I flip the switch Thanks again for your reply, Darrell

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #54 - 01/21/14 at 04:14:04

Over the week end, I brought home some of the "latest" Klipsch (claimed to be 96dB sensitivity) that we sell on approval. (a simple privilege of working there.)

Honestly, as "nice as they sound" with my sand piles (and they DO ROCK! with lots of raw power, but not so much with the two Zens I want to use) it almost sounds as if I am listening to a speaker system that has a cold. They sound stuffed up, when compared to my OBs I have had going for about three years.

Modern Klipsch, (Energy Series) claiming the efficiency I need will not work for me. I will not go back to "congested speakers."

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #55 - 01/21/14 at 14:36:57

So - long story short, while visiting Palomino yesterday, we accidentally plugged the left speaker out of phase - and right off the bat, I'm like "well crap, that sounds just like it does at my house". After we corrected our mistake, the imaging was fantastic!

So, I'm needing to check my MG944 for anything being wired out of phase today. Something just isn't right.

Current system is:

Oppo BDP-105 -> Zen Mystery Amp ->MG944I've got Herbie's Audio Lab stuff under everything, and on the tubes - makes a difference, but not sure if it was a $700 difference. Sure tightened things up though.

Addressing speakers today, then hopefully if I find time, finally getting back to building my fleet of diffusers (that I was supposed to get to back in November!)

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #56 - 01/21/14 at 15:16:28

When you get a chance be sure to move footers about under the Mystery Amp, especially if you have Iso-Cups under the amp. It always amazes me the gradations of sound character this allows one to experience (on my Toriis, I would imagine it may be the same with this amp).

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #57 - 01/21/14 at 22:05:47

Will do, Lon. Thanks for the reminder.

I've got a friend over helping me evaluate the system.

I did crack open the speakers this morning and checked as much of the wiring as I could see - and everything looks great. Bob is a hell of a speaker builder!

That said, just for grins I did wire the tweeters 180 degrees out of phase and we've been listening to them this way for a while now. About to switch them back and see what I see. Right now, I think I like it better with the tweets wired out of phase.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #58 - 01/22/14 at 19:25:07

Update - had my listening buddy Jason over - he listened with the tweeters wired 180 out of phase (which I thought sounded better to me), then we took the time to flip them back to stock. He said he didn't hear any difference in sound either way (which concerns me). Either way it wasn't the magic fix for my imaging I was hoping it would be. So back to addressing room issues.

Re: Building your system where are you with yours?Reply #59 - 02/02/14 at 21:55:40

Raven, I was wondering if you have had enough time with the ZMA to have found the sweet spot as far as volume is concerned and system synergy. The difference with the amps power compared to what your used to may put it a bit louder than what your used to with your other Zen Amp. I don't have the caliber of amp to compare with the ZMA but I know with most tubed guitar amps I've been around there is definitely a sweet spot for tone and harmonics but not sure it would have any barring on imagining but thinking that it may. I know a number of experienced guitar players prefer lower wattage tube amps to be able to achieve there preferred tones at lower volumes and will use house PA's to achieve the volume they need for performances. Just thought I'd throw this out there to see what you think about it and volume levels involving tonal differences and possible imagining complexities.

One thing I do know my 60 watt tube amp being fed by the CSP3 does need to have some volume to sing. I love it cranked brings everything out of the mix. The listening volumes I prefer are a bit more than my wife likes or can handle unless she is in a very rare mood and that is rarely the case!